Welcome to our Pictorial Tour of Rio's main event, the Samba Parade at the Sambodrome. This two-day extravaganza is considered by many the greatest show on earth. Lasting a total of 20 hours, with about seventy thousand participants, twice as many people in the audience, plus millions of spectators glued to their TV sets in Brazil and around the world, it may well be.

Become familiar with the concept of the parade you will appreciate it much better. In short: Seven samba schools march on Carnival Sunday, and seven more on Carnival Monday. Each samba school picks a particular theme. They display it to the audience in the format of a tropical mini-opera. A school has from 60-75 minutes to perform, with three to five thousand participants. They are distributed in alas or wings, with 6 to 8 floats for each school.

Different wings and floats illustrate the theme chosen by the samba school. They are highlighted here on special pages, with insider's tips and photos. Porta-bandeira and mestre-sala, abre-alas, wings, passistas, bateria, queens, floats and floatees are terms that may sound alien to you now. See them perform, and they will be forever on the tip of your tongue! Dazzle your eyes with colors, people having fun, textures and luxury using the miniatures as your navigation guide.

The final step if you are thinking about watching the show in person is taking a samba lesson. It will teach you what to do when the samba beat inevitably starts to get you. You are encouraged to sing along, stand and dance from your seat. This is the way to show a samba school that they are doing their job right!

Pictours of Carnival I has just been expanded, with new photos by Silviano. We have added at least one oversized poster at the top of each page, with even more colors and details! If you can't get enough, don't miss all the fun of the backstage action at Pictours of Carnival II. For some variety and good laughs, check out the Drags from Banda de Ipanema. In the best tradition of Rio's Street Carnival festivities everybody is welcome to join the fun. And better - for free!